


time is not alone with you

by nonbinarywithaknife (littleboxes)



Series: dimension 20 [6]
Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign: The Unsleeping City, Canon Trans Character, Families of Choice, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Name Changes, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleboxes/pseuds/nonbinarywithaknife
Summary: pete mindlinks with kugrash to ask him a question
Relationships: Bruce "Kugrash" Kugrich & Pete the Plug
Series: dimension 20 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706107
Comments: 33
Kudos: 161





	time is not alone with you

**Author's Note:**

> anyway my trans ass was up at midnight again thinking about names and the family you choose so. here. take it. the working title for this was “big rat in the sky who makes all the rules says trans rights”  
> title is from tom rosenthal's "all of them dreams"

Pete is popping cherry tomatoes like microdoses, and trying not to be nervous. It’s not even- it is a big deal, there isn’t, like, a version of his request that isn’t a big deal, but it’s not like, _a big deal_. Right. Right?

Man, Pete wishes he was still staying with Kingston. He could hover awkwardly outside Kingston’s door and then Kingston would open it and sigh at him, and they’d sit on the couch and Kingston would help him get the words out, but. Pete has the bookstore, and his cramped apartment above it, and for the _most part_ , he’s doing fine. But. 

_But_. This is. Something, weird, personal. _Intimate_ , Rowan would probably say, swishing her hands around- Rowan actually has really nice hands, which is probably a weird thing for Pete to notice, but they’re really; she _talks_ with them, they’re _expressive_ , anyway- Pete feels. _Weird_. _Vulnerable_ , asking Kugrash about it, even though Kugrash is technically, like, an aspect of the universe now who probably knows what Pete's going to ask anyway and who is like, everyone at once so he probably wouldn’t mind? Probably? 

But Pete's still pacing a hole in his apartment floor trying to work up the courage to open up a mind link when his phone pings. 

He checks it, because one of his friends might need him and not because he’s trying to push his question off for later. For sure. But it’s not from Sofia about anything attacking the monastery, or Rowan about anything messing with her Fey. It's one of those motivational work out graphics that Ricky has started sending him for encouragement, and if it were coming from _literally_ anyone else, it would be annoying, but coming from Ricky they’re actually weirdly, legitimately encouraging? 

Pete stares down at the silhouette of a woman jogging in front of a suspiciously perfect sunset and the words, _the only bad workout is the one you didn’t do_ and he sighs and puts his phone down and opens up his mind link.

“Hey, Kugrash? You uh, here, right now?”

It’s a few seconds before Pete gets a reply, which is pretty normal. Sometimes it takes a second for Kugrash to… to _gather himself up_ , as he described it once, to be enough of just _Kugrash_ that he can speak to Pete without breaking his mind with the knowledge of the universe.

“Yeah, kid, I’m here. What’s up?”

Pete sits down on his shitty couch, and bites through another tomato. 

“So. I have kind of a, weird question? And you probably already know it, because you’re like everybody in the universe or whatever but I wanted to ask anyway and it’s totally chill if you say no, cause like, it’s your name or whatever but I was. Wondering. Uh. _could-I-use-your-name-as-my-last-name?_ ”

Pete exhales his actual question so fast he’s pretty sure that if Kugrash weren’t a cosmic rat he probably wouldn’t have understood it. But, luckily, unluckily? _Luckily_ \- Kugrash _is_ a cosmic rat, or, not a rat, technically, but if he’s everything then he’s like, thousands of rats, whatever, not important right now. 

“Um. You probably already know why I’m asking, because you’re the big rat in the sky that makes all of the rules-”

“I’m the _what_ -?”

“- but it’s just, uh. Like, me and my dad actually have, like, a relationship, now, which is cool! But I, uh, I went by Pete the plug for- well, okay, mostly drug dealing reasons, but also because like, bad associations with my last name. You know? Didn’t wanna be recognized, like, I moved down here for a reason. Anyway. And then, you were like. You’re a cool guy, Kugrash.”

_You’re about the closest thing I have to a good parental figure_ , Pete does _not_ say, because he’s made a lot of progress since becoming the Vox Phantasma, but some things are still difficult. Also, if he thinks about it too hard, he’s probably gonna cry or laugh himself silly over the fact that a man who got turned into a rat by a witch as a way of turning his life around and thus abandoned his kids for decades that Pete knew for like, three weeks, was a better dad than his actual dad, but. Well. _That’s just his life_ , apparently. 

“ _Shit_ , Pete, I know I’m a part of the universe now, but, fuck. If I had a fuckin corporeal body I’d be fuckin’ cryin’ by now, you know that? _Fuck_. I- you know I got like, a human last name you could use, if you wanted.”

“Yeah, I know, but I guess- I didn’t really know Bruce Kugritch, you know, and according to one of my friends he was a real piece of shit-”

Kugrash snorts through the mind link, and Pete smiles a little.

“-but I knew Kugrash. And Kugrash was- is? Fuck. A good man. Rat. Rat-man. _Whatever_.”

“You wanna use my shitty fuckin’ name Pete, go wild. You’re already part of the family, though, you know that?”

Pete uses one of the pillows Kingston’s mom made him for Christmas last year to wipe his eyes, and eats another tomato. 

“Yeah, I- I know. Thanks, Kugrash.”

“Thank _you_ , kid.”

It’s surprisingly easy to get his name changed this time, considering the hassle it took the first time, but Pete is pretty sure he knows who’s responsible. 

**Author's Note:**

> [the only bad workout is the one you didn't do](https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Flifehealthhq.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F04%2Ffitness-quotes-for-motivation.jpg&f=1&nofb=1)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [time is not alone with you [Podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24224902) by [blackglass](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackglass/pseuds/blackglass)




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